Laptop HDD swop help please :)

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KeganFinder

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Hi All

Firstly I'm stuck with a semi-decent Acer travelmate 5740 that has a fried hard drive. Secondly I have a useless lenovo n500 with a working hardrive.

I would like to put the lenovo's memory into the acer. As far as I can tell they are both 2.5 inch sata so the compatibility shouldnt be a problem.

My issue lies with the keeping my files on the lenovo's memory while having to reinstall windows 7 on the Acer and worrying about the drivers in the process. I have very little money at this point so I would also like to know how I can get a hold of a windows 7 disk and use my existing cd key. Alternatively I am open to trying out linux if someone is willing to help me out.

With that said... any help or wisdom given would be gratefully appreciated.:D
 
You will have to backup your files to a external hard drive, usb flash stick or a hard drive in a desktop computer if you have any of these.
Another option depending on how much space is used on the lenovo hdd you can resize the main partion and shrink it, in the empty space create a new partition and copy the data from the resized partition to the new partition. You should be able to do this with gparted which can be found on most linux livecd's. Once done you can install windows to the partition you resized keeping your data on the new partition intact.

As for a Windows 7 iso image have a look here ,
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/7126-The-Official-Windows-7-Repository
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/12785-7-Oem-Sources-Folder-Project
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/forums/16-Windows-7?

You will find links to the genuine article in the above.
 
Many thanks Ponder!

Fortunately I have already partitioned the lenovos drive leaving 20gigs for the current operating system. So once I have done the swop I will simply install windows 7 onto that partition from the discs which I created using your 1st link guide. Will I need to use th loader as it suggest or can I simpky use my cd key?

I am also not sure what the other two links are for?
 
KeganFinder said:
Many thanks Ponder!

Fortunately I have already partitioned the lenovos drive leaving 20gigs for the current operating system. So once I have done the swop I will simply install windows 7 onto that partition from the discs which I created using your 1st link guide. Will I need to use th loader as it suggest or can I simpky use my cd key?

I am also not sure what the other two links are for?
Click to expand...

20gb is not good enough for windows 7
 
I had a laptop crash, cloned a different laptops hard drive with free software (completely different model) and it worked just fine on the new laptop picked up the new drivers etc.
Basically you might just be able to move the hard drive across and reactivate windows with the originally key - obviously back up and save any important info in case it all goes poof
 
KeganFinder said:
Are you sure? I just looked now and I currently have 2gb free on my C drive and thats after numerous installed programs aswell?
Click to expand...

2gb free?

So what happens if you want to install something or put some photos on the drive?
Where is your swap space?
 
lived666 said:
I had a laptop crash, cloned a different laptops hard drive with free software (completely different model) and it worked just fine on the new laptop picked up the new drivers etc.
Basically you might just be able to move the hard drive across and reactivate windows with the originally key - obviously back up and save any important info in case it all goes poof
Click to expand...

Not sure how this cloning software works? I understand that my gard drive will be replicated but how exactly does that help... ya Ill be sure to backup the priority stuff before thanks for heads up
 
Im not sure what you mean by swap. Any personal data which I want to keep will either be on my D partition or my external which is large enough to hold everything. My hope is to replace the hard drive and reinstall windows over my formatted C partition.
 
what I am saying is if there is windows 7 on the lenovo s hard drive then what you need to do is just back up what ever files you need and just put that hdd into the Acer - it will probably pick up the new drivers and just work.

If you dont have windows 7 on the Lenovo then you need to clone a hdd that has it and reactivate your windows with your original windows key, its all quite simple.
 
lived666 said:
what I am saying is if there is windows 7 on the lenovo s hard drive then what you need to do is just back up what ever files you need and just put that hdd into the Acer - it will probably pick up the new drivers and just work.

If you dont have windows 7 on the Lenovo then you need to clone a hdd that has it and reactivate your windows with your original windows key, its all quite simple.
Click to expand...

Sorry for sounding like an ass but you are trying to explain hard drive cloning to somebody who refers to a hard drive as memory.

@OP. If you are in CT send Ockie a PM. I heard he loves to help out with computers. If you are somewhere else get somebody that knows what they are doing to help you. And make sure you have backups of everything.
 
Yes I do have win7 on my lenovo so I reckon I should backup of whats necessary. Install the hardrive and start it up. If that fails I can simply get a windows 7 disc , format and install. SOUNDS GOOD. Thanks for the help guys it will always amaze me how you dont mind helping out people by explaining things that should be widely known by everyone.
 
AstroTurf said:
20gb is not good enough for windows 7
Click to expand...

This is my x64 bit W7 VM

877ba42d89.png
 
KeganFinder said:
Yes I do have win7 on my lenovo so I reckon I should backup of whats necessary. Install the hardrive and start it up. If that fails I can simply get a windows 7 disc , format and install. SOUNDS GOOD. Thanks for the help guys it will always amaze me how you dont mind helping out people by explaining things that should be widely known by everyone.
Click to expand...

Yeh it should work fine or it may just crash, sometimes **** happens when moving hdds so yeh, just save the data you need first.
It will probably pick up the new drivers or you may have to go to Acers site and download them and reinstall and you may or may not need to activate windows, it will tell you if it needs that.
 
AstroTurf said:
Lol. My xp virtual box is at about 120gb. My windows 7 machines range from 30 to 600gb depending where I store my stuff
Click to expand...

I wasnt trying to start a penis measuring contest here, I just made a small VM to test stuff out that wont break the host PC.
 
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